Texas vs. California (Houston, Dallas, Austin: homes, construction, income)

[sbhubbell]

So I know this article gets pretty political towards the end, but I think the facts and trends it demonstrates about policies and economics in Texas verses California will be interesting to many on this forum, as it was for me. Of course, it's a bit like preaching to the choir because most of us live here and I think see the benefits of our stonger economy, but maybe this would be useful to some who are looking to relocate here as well.

America as Texas vs. California « The Enterprise Blog

Oh and I am by no means bashing California, I love it there. It's just a financial mess.

[Oildog]

I would agree. I should add that the Texas attitude of taking care of yourself is quite true. While the Cali version of trying to live an 'ideal' life and if something is wrong the govt will fix it is slowly killing them.

[openedskittles]

This is definitely a good article. I like how the four bolded points make it really easy to see eactly what he is talking about, and I've been far in favor of the way Texas does things in these points. Texas has been an economic powerhouse for years because our local government values business initiatives and entrepreneurial successes rather than punishes them.

As much as popular media depicts Texas as a stupid red state, the smart businesspeople of America still head this way. Perhaps that's why Texas is growing rapidly while California saw over a million and a half more people move out of it than into it over the past decade, despite having some of the best weather and natural beauty (I will give them that) in America.

I wish Obama would read this. The reason the federal government can get away with the highest corporate income tax in the world is simply because it is hard to relocate global economic centers, but it does happen eventually. In Europe, countries have to undercut each other's corporate income tax to compete for economic development and investors. Asian countries also see the value in the businesspeople that Americans are being told to hate so our government can lay it's increasing burden on thier backs. If we continue on this path, all of America will be like California and businesses will escape overseas rather than to Texas. A lot of businesses already have.

[EasilyAmused]

Less Taxes promotes Growth??? Get Out! What a concept.

Wish our Federal Government would figure it out...and soon.

[hsw]

Interesting; thx for posting

Seems to me Big 3 economies are really CA, TX and NY; tech dominates CA; investment banks/hedge funds make NY relevant; and energy dominates TX

In NY or CA, top 1% of taxpayers pay about 50% of all taxes; IIRC, bottom 40% pay almost no income taxes

But many of the lavish welfare and union contracts that are causing budget problems in NY or CA are arguably due to fact many voters (and therefore politicians) aren't really taxpayers; often easy to vote for "free" welfare, mass transit, high union pay, etc when one doesn't have a big tax bill

Biggest risk for TX, IMO, is that community organizers in communist places like Austin seek to emulate NYC/SF/LA in Dall and Hou via BigGovernment, mass transit, more welfare...and state income taxes to drive taxpayers and major employers out of TX, leaving behind the welfare crowd and gvt workers, ala France or NYC's outer boroughs or most of LA region or City of SF or MI...

[Kenpar]

I loved the article. From the outside looking in. No bias.


^Also, I think Mass Transit is not a bad idea.

[Epularis]

Originally Posted by Oildog

I would agree. I should add that the Texas attitude of taking care of yourself is quite true. While the Cali version of trying to live an 'ideal' life and if something is wrong the govt will fix it is slowly killing them.

The government in CA doesn't fix anything. Too many million dollar homes in the way of progress. You will never see a project like the I-10 reconstruction happen anywhere in Socal west of the desert.

[Epularis]

Originally Posted by hsw

Interesting; thx for posting

Biggest risk for TX, IMO, is that community organizers in communist places like Austin seek to emulate NYC/SF/LA in Dall and Hou via BigGovernment, mass transit, more welfare...and state income taxes to drive taxpayers and major employers out of TX, leaving behind the welfare crowd and gvt workers, ala France or NYC's outer boroughs or most of LA region or City of SF or MI...

Man, I hear you, but the mass transit thing is a problem that has to be addressed and there is no private way to do it. When traffic gets out of control it paralyzes a city. Houston is not there yet, our system is pretty good, but it could get there in 20 years or so if people continue to live out in the burbs and try to commute to downtown. Imagine living in a city where it literally takes all day to get two things done, dry cleaner then groceries then try to get home before rush hour or you will get stuck in 4 hours of traffic to go 3 miles. There are places like that in the world that have neglected mass transit.

[openedskittles]

hsw, I agree with you about the greatest risk for Texas, but it's unfair to pigeonhole Texan industry as energy based. The Austin area has some very large and influential competitors in the tech industry, the third largest hedge fund in America is based in Dallas, and Houston has a world-class medical center and even investment banking. Houston and Dallas have the 2nd and 3rd most fortune 500 HQs after NYC. I don't mean to sound like a factbook, but a lot of people say Texas' success is all due to oil and ignore the benefits of liberty-minded voters.

Everyone says you're supposed to love Austin, but quite frankly I prefer Houston and Dallas. Austin has the highest cost of living in the state of Texas because the local government is the most liberal. As a result they employ the same city planning strategies as west coast cities.

I'm talking about using restrictive zoning laws and limiting road construction to force people to live closer to downtown. The advantages are supposed to be lower pollution from fewer commuters and increased property value. The reality is that it is difficult to find a nice place that you can afford and traffic is so bad it's shameful.

The reason Texas was hit so little by the housing bubble and why Houston and Dallas are by far the most affordable cities in America compared to how many 6 and even 7-figure jobs they provide is because most Texan cities allow a lot of freedom to develop and it keeps the price of housing from inflating far beyond what it is worth.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by Epularis

Imagine living in a city where it literally takes all day to get two things done, dry cleaner then groceries then try to get home before rush hour or you will get stuck in 4 hours of traffic to go 3 miles. There are places like that in the world that have neglected mass transit.

There was such a place and it, strangely, was in California. It was called Los Angeles. Only after reaching a certain density and becoming almost impossible to get around did they start getting serious about expanding transit. We can either do it now or do it later, but sooner or later we'll do it.

Instead we just spent a billion or so dollars redoing an existing freeway (the Katy) to add about 35K in daily capacity, and this is before we find out its full impact on flooding in the area that would have to be addressed later. But somehow that's "conservative" or whatever and mass transit is a bad investment. I don't understand it.

We get past the infatuation with concrete (mind, I do recognize that highway infrastructure must exist) and I'm quite in line with the Texan way of doing things, I suppose.